@OliverMalms all true, also because the competition is on the wind ... Affinity for negligible cost certainly has better functions (which work better), it also has many shortcomings, but as also illustrators, if we are used to the lack of illustrator we can do it also for those of Affinity, maybe one day, soon they also implement the deficiencies ... then it will be death for Ai ...

You are so right, nicky... I miss the precision of snapping in Macromedia Freehand everyday that I use Illustrator. Snapping in Illustrator behaves weird, inaccurate, illogical and having to use third party tools for a function that should be essential is just embarrising. I also miss the accoustic feedback from Freehand. I could always be absolutely sure, that everything is exactly in place. In Illustrator I often have to zoom in, to double check and have do pick up an object twice to get it snap where I want it to... And that are just 2 examples. Over the years , after acquiring Freehand, Adobe implemented quiet a few useful features from it (even if it took years...) So now, Adobe, please make snapping in Illustrator just as accurate and easy like it was in Freehand decades ago. Snapping in Illustrator sucked from the very first day and it still does...

well, I believe that at the threshold of the year 2022, Illustrator is not yet able to return drawings built with precision, there is always a tolerance of error that is inadmissible for a vector drawing software.
The mistake can stay there as long as you create artistic illustrations, but think of all those who build web interfaces, pixel icons, die-cut paths for packaging with illustrator !!!
To be honest, for jobs like packaging dies I was much more precise with Macromedia Freehand! He had some fantastic point or track alignments, he was never wrong. And it's funny, because it is a very old software, with so many bugs, Adobe has acquired the Freehand license but cabbage not even the cunning of taking things that worked well in freehand and transporting them by enhancing them in illustrator?
To think that it is not an illustrator who is not able to do it, but I think they make it purposely inefficient, suffice it to say that with smart graphics plug-ins you get very powerful snaps and alignments, perhaps they use a magnet or a much more powerful glue !!!
Even Affinity's competition works better on snaps!
So dear ADOBE, is there anything you are not telling us? Why do others make their and your software work better and YOU the undisputed leader of the graphics market are not able to upgrade your weapons?
These are thoughts that go through your head ... that's all

PS: often even with the zoom at maximum 64000% you can't even snap precisely between your curves ... what's the point of zooming so high at 64.000% if you can't even be precise? (affinity makes it even higher 3715551169.5%))

I have recently updraded to Illustrator 25, and it's still not working as it should… :-(

what I miss seeing in Smart Guides is still not being reflected in the current version. I don't think I'm imagining that at one time using Smart Guides Illustrator would give you prompts when you were aligning to top/bottom/middle/left/right edge of a shape - that's the feature I miss most.

I just created 2 new bug reports for this. Cause obvs this one is from 2018. Can you guys try to get some traction on them. I included a screen recording too so they don't think I am just magically making it up. ...... Select more than one object and you can't snap to the artboard.

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/42792221-smart-guides-not-snapping-to-artboard-or-other-obj

Also when you hold down shift and have smart guides on the smart guides conflict with the constraint. This started a few years back.

https://illustrator.uservoice.com/forums/601447-illustrator-desktop-bugs/suggestions/42789554-shift-constraint-conflict-with-smart-guides

The miracle of "Software as a Service". In the past, they might have felt obligated to fix some bugs as well as add *useful* new features to Illustrator with every major release, 'cause if they didn't maybe you'd skip that update and wait until next year, and they'd get no money (I think I only bought CS1, CS3, and CS5, skipping the even releases.)

Now of course by tying all the **** together in a single subscription, you have no say in whether you want the latest major releases. Sure, you can choose not to install them, but you're paying for them either way. And no matter how bad Illustrator gets, you're still going to pay the $50ish/mo because you need Photoshop, or Premiere, or any ability to open any of the files you've created in the last decade...

Progress!

I have been having this issue for about 10 years since about 2008-2009. I can't remember when exactly. I just dealt with it and worked on silently. I have since started using Figma a lot and going back to Illustrator it is plain to see how bad the smart guides are. I mean basic stuff like trying to snap to the edge of an artboard does not work. Come on Adobe get real. This needs sorting. And please don't write to use asking us to reset our preferences, or for more information. Go into illustrator your self and try to test it. I mean we build medium size website and before we launch ANYTHING, event the smallest feature we test it like 50 times before launching it. How you can tell me any beta tester, or manager signed this off I don't know. Just go into Illustrator and try to snap to objects together. Try a circle onto an anchor point. Or try snapping something the edge of your artboard when grids are turned off.....

Answer is simple... Adobe only cares about bringing out "new" features to try and attract new clients to get more money. They do not care about existing clients or the way applications work. This bug has been there for years and it's too small for them to care about. Snapping only works once you disable and re-enable it.

It still does not work well. In Freehand, I always could be sure, that everything snapped as it should. I even had acoustic feedback. In Illustrator I always have to zoom in and check, if everything is in place - and most of the time it is not! You just can’t trust in snapping with Illustrator and that is really a shame after all the years...

I hear ya Derek. Sure, the whole 'illustrating' aspect of the program may be broken in a number of ways*, for years at a time, but hey, at least there's a spellcheck now. Yay.

Clueless.

* and don't get me started on the text layout and character/paragraph formatting and styles issues.

*********. The problem still exists. Why is it so difficult for Adobe to fix these existing problems that last for years on end? I have a list of 20+ bugs with Illustrator alone. It's beyond ridiculous. I can't wait for an alternative to Adobe and I can finally be done with this joke of a company. Unfortunately it's going to be awhile since apparently when you own a monopoly, customer service and product quality takes a back seat to stock holders. And no I'm not being extreme. As a longterm paying customer, this is incredibly frustrating. FIX YOUR SOFTWARE ADOBE!!!

April 2019, Can confirm so called "smart guides" are still useless and simply not working most of the time

I would change "COMPLETED", as a I feel Smart Guides are still clunky. Smart Guides haven't been the same since around CS2. Having to hold Command for improved accuracy was always an odd addition too.

The fix did not happen in 23.0....it still does not work correctly no matter what you try.

I wish Illustrator was a 2D version of Blender. They have their snapping nailed down. Also, every time I work in Blender and migrate back to Illustrator, I want to edit my vertices the same way I was in Blender. Just a thought for Illustrator developers to have a look at that.

I'm not certain what was supposedly fixed in CC 2019, but nothing seems to have changed according to my testing. Perhaps the folks at adobe were testing very simple files rather than something with many layers and thousands of individual objects all over the artboard and/or drawing area? I still see 'smart' guides 'snapping' to things clear across the screen from the intended object.

The problem has come back, I think. I need to zoom in a lot to snap to the right point.
I don't want to delete my preferences again, it takes too long to set them back.

I'm also constantly having issues with imprecise snapping to points and guides. Sometimes, I can't even get them to snap to a guide, point, or line that I'm hovering directly over. I also have the issue of the smart guides trying to snap to objects no where near what I'm working on while hovering over the object I'm trying to snap to. These guides used to work great a few releases ago.

Update:
I've talked to an Adobe Support representative and he seems to have solved my issue by resetting my Illustrator preferences.